h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This will be good for the sport:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6511907.stm

Random Mood

Yay, Nanny's been given a kick in the Ar$e

Nothing seemed to be happening here, so I thought I'd 'kick-start' it!

Always pleased to talk about F1!

Ok, tips for the season

To Win, I say again, Kimi Raikkonen

To keep an eye on in the rear view mirror, Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubriwhatsisface the Pole

Disappointment of the year, for the umpteenth year running, Jenson Button

The smart money must be on Kimi, but let's hope it goes all the way to Brazil!

I can see Hamilton being big in a few years

What do you think about Bernie's idea of night races?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6522367.stm
Sounds good, but more to do with getting far east races on day time TV in Europe!

I'm wondering where you'd stick headlights on an F1 car, sure the old style Lotus 7 shape F1 cars could have had them but the new ones are too carefully designed.

Hmm, I dunno what to think of this one. I suppose night races could be a lot more fun but it's a bit stupid if it's only to put the races on at a decent time for British viewers

Formula One drivers have given cautious support to Bernie Ecclestone's plan to stage Grands Prix at night
- but only if their safety can be guaranteed:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6526139.stm

Night races...

Great idea. Although I'd be sad to see the Aussie race go to a night race - I really like the usual Aussie feeling of a bright breezy spring (well, autumn) day. That'd be lost in the dark.

And while the big E is insisting on night races, and the middle-east tracks having to spend money on track-side lighting, here's an idea...

...'Wet' races...

Lets have some circuits install track-side sprinkler systems for a guaranteed wet race. I'd like to see Hungary in the wet every year!

Paff

Oh, and back to the post1 Traction Control news...

Yes, the FIA are apparently banning TC for 2008. Like all the best ideas though, my money is on this getting moved back a year or two, maybe till 2011, when, you guessed it, electronic driver aids will be back on the menu anyway.

Don't believe me? Not many people were paying attention at the World Motorsport Concil press conference in December when Max appeared to say all the right stuff about the future F1 rules, but actually did no such thing.

Here's how the proposals went:

2008
Max says: "possible elimination of aerodynamic appendices (subject to unanimous agreement of competing teams)"
Paff says: Yeah right. "Possible elimination" means they'll put it back a year or two. "Unanimous agreement" means it'll never happen.

Max says: "regulations to restrict the use of wind tunnels (subject to the consent of a majority of competing teams)"
Paff says: Hmm. "Subject to consent"! No way the teams will be happy with this until Computational Fluid Dynamics is better than 'real' wind, and then they'll just spend the aero budget on very big computers to do the CFD. It'll get moved back by 5+ years until the computers are better and everyone will be ditching their wind-tunnels anyway.

2009
Max says: "energy recovery and re-use from braking"
Paff says: Yes great, but hasn't this _already_ been pushed back until 2010?

Max says: "reduction of 50% of downforce"
Paff says: The aero departments always claw it back within a season. No change there then.

2010
Max says: "waste heat and energy from exhaust gases recovered and used to propel the car"
Paff says: Good plan. I can see this happening. Makes sense for F1 _and_ road cars.

Max says: "Wholly or partially standardised aerodynamics"
Paff says: Customer cars were the thin end of the wedge. Once we go here, we might as well merge F1 with the IRL or Champ cars and be done with it.

2011
Max says: "four-race engine..."
Paff says: Yes? Carry on...

Max says: "...including high-efficiency turbocharging, fuel flow limits, direct injection, downsizing so as to ensure very high (15000+) rpm"
Paff says: Ah yes, "high rpm"! There's the sweetener to bring rev chasing back. Those manufacturers love a bit of it.

Max says: "further reductions in downforce with greater emphasis on..."
Paff says: At which point, we're all _expecting_ Max to say "greater emphasis on mechanical grip". But he doesn't. He says...

Max says: "...greater emphasis on cornering performance and handling by means of chassis, suspension, and brake management"
Paff says: Oh poo. Sounds like traction control to me. Still, lets give him the benefit of the doubt...

Max says: "complete freedom to use electronics, possibly also free up driver-aid electronics"
Paff says: So there it is. The nail in the coffin of F1.


Here's a link, but I'm not sure if you folk will be able to see it because you have to subscribe to some parts of the autosport site:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/55951

Paff

The link works fine! Thank you!

Valencia will host a Grand Prix from 2008 after agreeing a deal with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6642777.stm

Random Mood

I'm just as confused by this as Alonso is.

Yes I can see that you might now have a European GP in Spain like we used to have the European GP in Germany. But everything else confuses me:

Why would Bernie add a Euro race at a time when he seems to be trying to cut down on them?
Why would Bernie add a street race when even decent circuits are having their corners toned down because there's no run-off?
Why would Bernie add a street race in Valencia when there's a perfectly good race track just up the road?


Bernie is always playing the long con. But I can't work out what his game is. I'd guess at:
(a) He wants the British, French and Italian governments to spend some big money to bring their respective GPs up to scratch, and will do this by finding any excuse for another race on the calendar. (We'll know this is his plan if he starts adding more Euro races instead of more Middle-East/Asia races).
(b) He wants 20 races on the calendar, and will do it by adding fly-aways and threatening Euro races. (We'll know this is his plan the day he says Monaco is off the menu).
(c) He wants to end manufacturer domination of F1, and will do it by adding races in places where their are fans and sponsors but not customers. (We'll know this is his plan if he starts saturating the market in - say - Bahrain and Abu Dhabi).

There's one other option. The most likely, I guess:
(d) Valencia have offered to pay an extraordinarily huge sum of money to host a race. Bernie always likes the look of an extraordinarily huge sum of money.

Paff

I notice that Bourdais is testing again for Toro Rosso.

See the timesheets at the bottom of the page here: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/58866

Paff

For anyone petrol-headed enough to care, I'm pleased to report that Rubens has taken up left-foot braking again, although only in high-speed corners.

Paff

This is an interesting story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6646383.stm

Talking of safety cars:

"Dennis calls for safety car rule change"
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/59664

Paff